The Incomplete Journey In the early fourteenth century, knighthood represented respect and success for brave young men, and chivalry’s codes were necessary for those young men to uphold. In the book Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the author constructs the young Sir Gawain by testing his character. These trials, given by the Green Knight, challenge Sir Gawain 's loyalty and bravery to people’s astonishment Sir Gawain 's achievement is muddled. During the test he breaks his promise and takes away the green girdle that he supposes to exchange with Bertilak just likes his bargain. In fact, Bertilak still thinks Sir Gawain passes his task, which implies that the author believes that chivalry is not the most important element for the knight. Instead, the author focuses on the unavoidable truth that the base of a knight is a human, and that the life is more valuable than any other thing for Gawain. The author wants people to realize that human could not avoid making faults. All of those are caused by the Green knight’s challenge …show more content…
Knights are the representative of the loyalty, bravery, honesty and the other essential measurements of chivalry in the book, Gawain is the chosen one to examine his codes of chivalry. During the test, the taken green girdle which originally is belongs to Bertilak against a the loyalty that also directly indicates Gawain fails for his quest, when the decision is holding in Bertilak hand, he decides to let Gawain pass, “You 're the most faultless warrior who walks on foot! As a pearl is more precious than a snow-pea So is Gawain, upon my oath, among other Knights. Yet here you lacked a little: your loyalty Was wanting-not out of greed, not out of wantonness? But because you loved your life-and I blame you much less For that
In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Gawain shows qualities of a chivalrous knight. He demonstrates that by showing generosity, courtesy, and loyalty during his travels. A mysterious knight shows up at the king’s castle and calls himself the Green Knight. The Green Knight then challenges one to play a game which he challenges the king to strike him with his axe if he will take a return hit in a year and a day. Sir Gawain steps forward to accept the challenge for his uncle King Arthur when nobody else in the castle would. He took the King’s role in the game to protect him from the Green Knight. He must learn to accept his responsibility as a knight, in accepting his fate.He demonstrates goodness at the hand of the Green Knight. He shows courage by accepting what is to come upon him during his voyage. His journey to find the Green Knight is filled with temptations.In the conversation with him and the “Lady”, Sir Gawain showed a Chivalrous code by keeping his loyalty to the king by not kissing his wife. The lady states “if I should exchange at my cho...
In the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Poet Pearl, Sir Gawain, knight of the Round Table, acts chivalrously, yet his intents are insincere and selfish. It is the advent season in Middle Age Camelot, ruled by King Arthur when Poet Pearl begins the story. In this era citizens valued morals and expected them to be demonstrated, especially by the highly respected Knights of the Round Table. As one of Arthur’s knights, Sir Gawain commits to behaving perfectly chivalrous; however, Gawain falls short of this promise. Yes, he acts properly, but he is not genuine. The way one behaves is not enough to categorize him as moral; one must also be sincere in thought. Gawain desires to be valued as
To begin with, the Green Knight, similar to God, bestows a trial to Sir Gawain in order to test his faith and loyalty to his promise. The beheading agreement made between these characters is organized to assess the truth to Sir Gawain’s knightly
The tales of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Lanval offer their readers insight into a common knightly quandary. Gawain and Lanval are both faced with challenges that threaten their ability to protect, uphold, and affirm their very knightliness. The two knights repeatedly see several knightly traits--- each invaluable to the essence of a knight--- brought into conflict. While the knights are glorified in their respective texts, they are faced with impossible dilemmas; in each story, both reader and knight are confronted with the reality that knightly perfection is unattainable: concessions must be made--- bits and pieces of their honor must be sacrificed.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight – A Test of Chivalry Essay with Outline: Loyalty, courage, honor, purity, and courtesy are all attributes of a knight that displays chivalry. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is truly a story of the test of these attributes. In order to have a true test of these attributes, there must first be a knight worthy of being tested, meaning that the knight must possess chivalric attributes to begin with. Sir Gawain is admittedly not the best knight around. He says "I am the weakest, well I know, and of wit feeblest; / and the loss of my life [will] be the least of any" (Sir Gawain, l. 354-355).
Sir Gawain is presented as a noble knight who is the epitome of chivalry; he is loyal, honest and above all, courteous. He is the perfect knight; he is so recognised by the various characters in the story and, for all his modesty, implicitly in his view of himself. To the others his greatest qualities are his knightly courtesy and his success in battle. To Gawain these are important, but he seems to set an even higher value on his courage and integrity, the two central pillars of his manhood.
In the final scenes of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Gawain’s encounter with Sir Bertilak allows Gawain to perceive his own flaws, manifested in his acceptance of the Green Girdle. The court’s reaction to his personal guilt highlights the disconnect between him and the other knights of the Round Table. Gawain’s behavior throughout the poem has been most noteworthy; his understanding of his sin, one that many of us would dismiss since it was propelled by his love of life, enhances his stature as a paragon of chivalry.
Sir Gawain’s wrongdoing for taking the girdle from the Lady does not bear a consequence from the Green Knight, for he forgives Sir Gawain, as it was his human instinct to protect himself to take the item. In the short poem, the Green Knight is known to say, “I declare you purged, as polished and as pure as the day you were born, without blemish or blame” (Artimage 181). The diction in the phrase allows the reader to envision purity in the form of a human, resembling Sir Gawain. Sir Gawain is astonished, almost not believing the knight, and thanks him for the gift that led to his failing, saying, “God bless you for this gift. Not for all its ore will I own it with honor” (Artimage 183). From the tone of these sentences, the audience is receiving the vibe of happiness and overjoyment. This might be to cheer up the readers, for the main character almost died. Redemption is not worth much unless the fault is taught upon, so others will not make the same error as Sir Gawain. This conception is fulfilled when King Arthur hears of Sir Gawain’s adventure, honoring and showering his court with cheerfulness for the Green Knight’s redemption as pictured in the passage, “...and each knight who held it was honored forever,” and “...every knight in the brotherhood - should bear such a belt, a bright green belt worn obliquely to the body, crosswise, like a sash, for the sake of
Sir Gawain believed he could “escape unscathed, [thinking] the scheme were noble” through the use of the Green Girdle (li. 1858). This decision revealed the people’s tendency to forfeit moral approaches for more reassuring “schemes” under the pressure of death. Sir Gawain’s own “noble” deception toward the Green Knight highlights the people’s desperation to appear faithful while unable to endorse the values of their belief system. However, at the Green Knight recognizes that Sir Gawain “loved [his] life” which was “less, then, to blame” (li. 2368).
Gawain’s acceptance of Lady Bertilak’s girdle causes him to progressively lose himself internally in order to save his physical life. Gawain appears to be the perfect image of a knight, who exhibits himself as worthy and noble when he accepts the Green Knight’s challenge. Known to be “honored all over the world,” his remarkable valor and devout behavior define his character. He loses his honorable reputation, though, when he disrespects the honor of King Bertilak. Disgracing his knightly code, Gawain fails to exchange all of his gifts with the king and lies, without hesitation, to the king when he claims that “what [he] owed [King Bertilak] [he has] paid [King Bertilak]” (1941). Gawain directly lies to him without hesitation, proving that his conscience does not seem to be effecting his actions. Lying is a common action, but generally, it causes us to feel remorseful and guilty over our wrongs. Gawain breaks the code of chivalry that requires a knight to be loyal and honest, but he is not regretful due to his apparent selfish nature (“Code of Chivalry, 2 and 15”). He makes a deal with the king to “[trade] profit for profit,” yet he dishonestly “[hides] [Lady Bertilak’s] love gift” rather than honoring the king’s wishes (1677, 1874). Gawain makes a promise that he fails to fulfill. The girdle drives him to destruction because it pulls him away from what he knows to be good and
In Gordon M. Shedd’s “Knight in Tarnished Armour: The Meaning of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”, he argues that Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is truly about the strength and weaknesses of human nature. One particularly interesting part of his argument asserts that Gawain’s humanity broke medieval romance tradition.
The story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight revolves around the knights and their chivalry as well as their romance through courtly love. The era in which this story takes place is male-dominated, where the men are supposed to be brave and honorable. On the other hand, the knight is also to court a lady and to follow her commands. Sir Gawain comes to conflict when he finds himself needing to balance the two by being honorable to chivalry as well as respectful to courtly love.
“The code of chivalry requires knights to “live by honour and for glory” and Gawain, in keeping the girdle from the lady of the castle, failing to give just measure and return it to his host, in spite of the fact that it was presented as a luck token, failed to uphold his bargain with the lord of the castle; as such, the next day, at the appointed time wherein he was to meet the Green Knight in the Green Chapel, the Knight measures out justice to Gawain for failing to keep his promise. Gawain is shamed, knowing he has broken the code, and while the Green Knight forgives him, Gawain states that “but as for thy girdle, that will I take with good will, not for gain of the gold, nor for samite, nor silk, nor the costly pendants, neither for weal nor for worship, but in sign of my frailty. I shall look upon it when I ride in renown and remind myself of the fault and faintness of the flesh; and so when pride uplifts me for prowess of arms, the sight of this lace shall humble
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight fit in with the concept of a romance; it has all the elements that would make one consider the text as so. The tale holds adventure, magic, a quest and an unexpected reality check that even those who are considered “perfect” are also just humans. The author used this story as a way of revealing faults in some of the aspects of knighthood through the use of intertwining chivalric duty with natural human acts; thus showing to be perfectly chivalrous would be inhuman.
Sir Gawain accepts a game in which he delivers a blow on the neck to the Green Knight. In return the Green Knights returns the hit one year later. Sir Gawain receives the green sash from the Green Knight’s wife because she does not want him to die. “The lady then offers him a green silk tunic which can protect the wearer from death. Aware of his impending meeting with the Green Knight, Gawain accepts the girdle, which the lady begs him to keep secret" (gradesaver.com/sir-gawain-the-green-knight). Sir Gawain keeps his word with the Green Knight and takes the one hit to the neck. For Gawain, the green girdle represents his survival. Gawain fails the Green Knight’s test because he did not exchange the girdle with him. This affected Gawain’s code of honor. “The Green Knight urges Gawain to keep the sash as a token of their struggle...He agrees to keep the girdle to remind himself of the ‘fault and frailty of the foolish flesh.’” (gradesaver.com/sir-gawain-the-green-knight). The girdle does not only protect Gawain’s life but also represents the mistake that he made. With this in mind his choices in the future will be sincere and thought through. It will also provide him with a protection just as great as the scabbard that holds